Is Flawless Intonation Possible? Understanding True Temperament Frets

Quick Take

What it is: A fretting system with curved, individually positioned frets that corrects the small intonation errors built into standard equal-tempered guitars. Available as complete guitars, replacement necks, or fretboards.

Who it's for: Progressive and technical players chasing harmonic precision from complex chords and extended voicings — and anyone who has never quite got a straight-fretted guitar fully in tune with itself.

Price: Roughly $2,400–$2,850 used for a Strandberg Boden+ NX 8 True Temperament (Sweetwater's used guide; it was $3,695 new and is now discontinued). The Cort KX700 TT lists at €2,395 excl. tax on True Temperament's own webshop. Checked 08/20/2026.

The catch: Your open strings no longer tune to equal-tempered intervals, so you need a tuner with True Temperament presets or one you can offset by hand. Retrofit necks also ship without hardware or a nut.

Close to it, yes — closer than straight frets can manage. True Temperament places each fretted note at the position that actually intonates correctly, which is not the position a straight fret puts it in. The result is a fretboard that stays accurate all the way up the neck, and chords that align in a way you cannot get any other way.

Musicians have been shredding high-speed compositions since the days of Paganini — that's nothing new. But the modern guitarist chasing the next level of speed and precision has access to a performance tool that only modern manufacturing made possible.

What is a True Temperament guitar neck?

It's a neck whose fret positions are optimised individually for each note on the fretboard, rather than laid out in straight lines. True Temperament is the result of over 15 years of research and development by Swedish inventor Anders Thidell. His formula also compensates for the mass of each individual string and the pressure required to push it down to the fret. The strings are tuned slightly differently from normal, the frets sit in slightly different positions from normal, and what you get is ultra-precise intonation at every note across the neck.

Thidell has since passed away. True Temperament has said that his final major project was converting Brian May's well-worn Tokai Hummingbird acoustic to the system — a job that needed a newly crafted fretboard, custom fret calibrations to cope with its unwound G string, a reworked bridge and a new truss rod. The company's own words: “Anders Thidell, founder of True Temperament. Never forgotten.”

What are the benefits of True Temperament?

It corrects the tiny imperfections inherent in equal-tempered tuning, which means chords and intervals are more in tune than they could ever be with straight frets. Harmonics align and chords come alive in a way you simply haven't heard or felt before. Even single-note lines sound clearer and more musical as you move across the fretboard.

True Temperament vs 12-tone equal temperament

Guitars with straight frets use the 12-tone equal temperament system, meaning the octave is divided into 12 intervals. Those intervals are the same for each string, which is what allows the frets to be straight in the first place. With True Temperament, the fret positions are optimised per string to give truer intonation all the way up the neck, and it compensates for both the added tension when you press a string to the fret and the mass of the string itself. For playing in standard guitar keys, you couldn't ask for a more accurate fretboard.

Is True Temperament the same as just intonation?

No. Just intonation is realistically only possible in one musical key — as soon as you change keys it sounds off. True Temperament works across all common keys in standard guitar tuning, drop tunings included, giving super-accurate intonation across the entire fretboard.

Do the curved frets feel strange to play?

Less than you'd expect. Despite their irregular look, TT frets feel natural whether you're forming chords, grabbing double stops or sliding single notes around, and you can bend notes exactly as you would on straight frets. Words won't mean much until you get your hands on one, but plenty of players report being surprised at how natural the transition felt. The reality is that we rarely hold our fingers in straight lines anyway, so the curvy, irregular frets often feel more comfortable, not less.

How to tune a True Temperament guitar

Almost exactly like tuning a standard guitar — with one adjustment. Because True Temperament guitars don't tune their open strings in equal-tempered intervals, your tuner needs to know that.

The free option is the StroboPro online tuner, a web-based strobe tuner that runs on your computer, smartphone or iPad and has built-in True Temperament presets. Select the preset for your 6-, 7- or 8-string and tune up.

For a pedalboard solution, the Peterson StroboStomp Mini is a pro-quality tuner pedal at $119.00, with a long list of “sweetened” tuning presets — 80 of them — including True Temperament for guitar and bass. Other Peterson strobe tuners carry the presets too.

If you already own a programmable tuner you can set it up yourself. True Temperament necks use the Thidell Formula One temperament, built around tuning offsets and fret positions. Enter these:

• E string (E4): −1 cent
• B string (B3): −1 cent
• G string (G3): +4 cents
• D string (D3): +2 cents
• A string (A2): no offset needed
• E string (E2): −2 cents
• 7- and 8-string, B1: −4 cents
• 7- and 8-string, F#1: −8 cents

Which pro players use True Temperament?

Steve Vai got there first, and the rest followed. Widely regarded as one of the best guitarists in the world, Vai was an early experimenter with True Temperament guitars, and his influence spread fast — internet searches for “why does Steve Vai's guitar have strange frets?” flooded the web, and a new generation of progressive players started exploring the system. Modern masters including Plini, Mattias IA Eklundh and Fredrik Thordendal have wielded True Temperament guitars when they need maximum harmonic clarity.

Vai's own account, given on True Temperament's site, is that Thidell “first put these wild, beautiful frets in my hands, and I immediately knew he was onto something extraordinary.” The company's current roster also includes Kiko Loureiro of Angra and Megadeth, Kee Marcello, Martin Miller and, as of June 2026, John Norum. Bear in mind these are testimonials published by the manufacturer rather than independent reviews.

What does a True Temperament guitar cost?

Expect to spend in the region of $2,400 to $3,700, depending on whether you buy new, used, or retrofit a guitar you already own. This is boutique territory, and supply is thin enough that what's available changes month to month.

Strandberg was an early adopter — they build performance-focused instruments for technically-inclined players, so the fit is obvious. The Strandberg Boden+ NX 8 True Temperament carried a $3,695 price at Sweetwater, but it is no longer available new. Sweetwater's own used guide puts the going rate at roughly $2,402 to $2,845, with $2,587 as its recommended figure. A True Temperament neck should also be an option on Strandberg's custom builds.

The Cort KX700 TT is the more available option, listed at €2,395 excluding tax on True Temperament's own webshop. It pairs the fretting with a Schaller Hannes 6 bridge, which optimises individual string tension while enhancing sustain and reducing string wear — about as much control over playability and intonation as you can currently buy. We could not confirm a US retail price, so check with a dealer before you budget.

Retrofit necks — ready to bolt on

You don't need a whole new instrument. True Temperament makes bolt-on replacement necks for Telecaster- and Stratocaster-style guitars, fitted with stainless steel curved frets and designed to drop into any Tele- or Strat-style body with industry-standard neck pocket dimensions and bridge position. Pricing isn't published on the spec page — they're sold through True Temperament's own webshop. Bolt one to your favourite Strat or Tele and find out for yourself what True Temperament is about.

Retrofit neck specs — Fast Facts

• Scale length: 25-1/2″
• Frets: 22 True Temperament Thidell Formula 1 jumbo stainless steel
• Neck wood: Maple, C profile
• Fingerboard: Choice of Pau Ferro or Maple, 12″ radius
• Nut width: 1-11/16″
• Tuner holes: Pre-drilled 9.8mm, Fender standard
• Truss rod: Single, adjustment at the head
• Finish: Clear satin matt
• Made in: Trollhättan, Sweden
• Worth knowing: necks are delivered without hardware and without a nut

So — is flawless intonation possible?

For playing in standard guitar keys, True Temperament fretting gets you closer than any straight-fretted instrument can. It's still uncommon on shop walls, it asks you to rethink how you tune, and a retrofit neck arrives needing hardware — but the payoff is chords that ring in a way you've probably never heard from your own hands. If you've been wondering whether flawless intonation is possible on an electric guitar, True Temperament frets are the closest anyone has got.